Zen and the Art of Photography

[Rob MacKillop]

Someone gave me a link to this video. It's of a Buddhist photographer, John Daido Roshi, whose work is not known to me, but I like the way he talks about the moment, about sitting in the environment you go to to shoot, waiting for the time to be right before even getting your camera out. He's talking about photographing nature, but I'm sure that what he says about that could also transfer to street and abstract photography.

[video=youtube;VPR_5MvFIXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPR_5MvFIXU&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

ZEN PHOTOGRAPHY, John Daido Loori Roshi of Zen Mt. Monastery, NY - YouTube

 

[Hamish Gill]

Brilliant!

A lot of that rings very true I think ... hes definitely on to something!

I love what he says about our preoccupation with the past and the future!

the idea of going out without any preconceived ideas of what you might get is something i try and do quite a lot ... i often come back with nothing at all, but when i have gone out without an idea it doesnt matter. when i do get something under those circumstances it is often better than what i get when i go out with a purpose

And what he says at the end about knowing when the shot is right ...
There is definitely a feeling you get when you have taken a shot and the instant the shutter fires you know you have nailed it ... it doesnt always happen, in fact its pretty rare, but sometimes you just know you have the right shot for that moment!